Augmented Reality Platform Blippar Closes $54M in Series D Round

New York-based Blippar, a technology company specializing in augmented reality, artificial intelligence and computer vision, has raised a $54 million series D funding round led by Khazanah Nasional Berhad, the strategic investment fund of the Government of Malaysia, which also included follow-on investment from Blippar’s existing investor base. The investment will support the company’s mission to give users more from the world they see by accelerating the expansion of its engineering capabilities and presence in San Francisco.

Ambarish Mitra, Blippar Co-Founder and CEO said, “This latest funding round will allow us to continue to capture top engineering talent, further grow our leading global install base, create one-of-a-kind campaigns for our brand partners, and achieve our vision for an era in which everyone has access to unlimited knowledge of the world around them, regardless of language or education.”

With approximately 60 engineers in its San Francisco and Mountain View offices and a total of more than 300 employees across 14 global offices, the company will use the funding to further grow its engineering team and leverage its experience to extend the global reach of its visual-browsing capabilities with the addition of a range of new categories and better content.

In addition, the financing will enable Blippar to invest in its user acquisition. The firm claims that it has already seen exponential user adoption with a global user base of over 65 million users, and partnerships with some of the media owners and brands in the world including Nestlé, Condé Nast, TIME Inc., Procter & Gamble, Kraft, Heinz, Universal Pictures, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Disney and Jaguar.

The company will additionally use the funding to continue growing its presence within the Education sector and build on early use-cases to become the default platform for educators seeking to empower classrooms with interactive visual learning experiences.